They displaced 6,382 t (6,281 long tons) at full load and were rated at a top speed of 27.5 knots (50.9 km/h; 31.6 mph) Both ships saw extensive service during World War I, primarily in the reconnaissance forces of the High Seas Fleet.

Following Germany's defeat, Graudenz was ceded to Italy and served as Ancona until 1937, when she was sold for scrap.

The ships' hulls were constructed with longitudinal steel frames and contained seventeen watertight compartments and a double bottom that extended for forty-seven percent of the length of the keel.

The German Navy regarded the ships as good sea boats, with slight weather helm and gentle motion in a swell.

[3] The ships' propulsion system consisted of two sets of Marine-type steam turbines, each of which drove a three-bladed screw 3.50 m (11 ft 6 in) in diameter.

[2] The ships were armed with twelve 10.5 cm (4.1 in) SK L/45 guns in single pedestal mounts.

[3] Graudenz saw extensive service during World War I, including serving as part of the reconnaissance screen for the battlecruisers of I Scouting Group during the raid on Scarborough, Hartlepool and Whitby in December 1914.

[10] Regensburg served in the reconnaissance forces of the High Seas Fleet during World War I.

[11] She saw significant action at the Battle of Jutland on 31 May – 1 June 1916, where she served as the leader of the torpedo boat flotillas that screened for the I Scouting Group battlecruisers.

[12] Like Graudenz, Regensburg was to have participated in the final sortie of the German fleet at the end of the war, and was involved in the mutiny that forced the cancellation of the plan.

[15] Removed from service in 1936, she was used as a barracks ship in Lorient until 1944, when she was seized by the Germans and scuttled in the harbor to protect the U-boat pens there.